Assists: 3 Possible Adjustments to the Stat

The first time that I heard about the concept of an “assist” was in 1966. I was a freshman on the FS team at Savanna. The varsity coach, Ron McCready asked me to keep the varsity stats. None of the teams that I had played on had ever kept stats so it was all new to me. He explained that if a player made a pass that led to a made basket, it was an assist. 

Being a guard, I loved the idea that a passer would be recognized. I was very generous in my interpretation of what was an assist. If a player on the 1966-7 Savanna varsity didn’t set a school record for assists, it was not my fault.

As a coach, I have always thought both assists and rebounds are two of the best stats to use to help educate players that there is more to basketball than scoring. Thousands of crazed parents pay their kid for baskets scored, but very few parents are focused on assists or rebounds. 

A good simple measure of a ball handler is to look at the ratio of assists to turnovers. If it is close to a 1 to 1 ratio, it is not good. So a coach or player can look at this ratio and do a simple evaluation of ball handling. 

This past season, Tyrese Haliburton had an impressive 5.6:1 ratio. Last year, Courtney Vandersloot led the WNBA at 4.7:1 ratio. 

I really like the concept of assists. It tends to measure a degree of unselfishness, of team work, and of ball handling. The problem is that there are some real weaknesses that make assists a stat that needs to be taken with a grain of salt. 

Assists in basketball are similar to the RBI in baseball. The concept is great, but there are some holes. Baseball still uses RBI’s but baseball has gradually moved to some other measures to determine batting proficiency. 

My problem with assists is that getting an assist also involves things beyond the passer’s control. A player can make a great pass, the player catches and then misses a layup- that means no assist. You need good shooters in order to be able to get assists. That is just one of the flaws with assists. I am not arguing that because of the flaws, we should drop assists. I am suggesting that we might look at some simple and some more complicated ways to clean up assists.  

First Option- Free Throw Adjustment

If a player makes a pass that leads to a player’s shot, if the player is fouled while shooting- if the player makes both free throws then it should be an assist. Not only did the assist lead to 2 points (just like a FG), but the pass also led to an opponent getting one more personal, and the team getting one more personal toward reaching the bonus. 

IMPLEMENTATION- Simply, easy to tabulate, everyone should do it. This should be adapted as part of the rules on all levels.

Second Option- Hockey Assist Adjustment

Today with many teams running a version of dribble drive, the goal is for a ball handler to be able drive to the lane, draw help and kick it out. Most often the player who drives and forces the defense to rotate, is not credited for an assist. The usual play is to drive and kick, the player who catches the pass out makes an “and one” pass to another player. The “and one” passer gets the assist.

Another situation is versus a zone, when a player will make a great skip pass, sometimes the skip will result in an open shot for the receiver. Often the skip will result in an “and one” pass for the shot. The skip passer does not get the assist. 

IMPLEMENTATION- This requires more judgement to implement, but the details could easily be figured out. Hockey has done this for years. This should be adapted as part of the rules on all levels. 

Third Option- Missed Shot Assists

How often have we seen a player make a great pass to a player in the lane, and the player blows the layup. Or how often do we see a player find a player open for 15 foot shot, and they miss the shot. 

IMPLEMENTATION- This becomes much more difficult to keep track of during a game. I don’t think it should be adapted as part of the rules, but I do think that coaches could keep this as part of their personal stats. 

My thought is that while I like assists for free throws and hockey assists, I would not use them for my school records if they were not universally used. 

All three options could be valuable for individual coaches to use to evaluate and give feedback to their players about ball handling. I would suggest that coaches could also develop other stats/analytics to evaluate player’s offensive performance:

1- Good shots/Bad shots

2- Good screens/Bad Screens- screens that lead to an open shot. 

3- Lane Touches- Times a dribble gets to the lane or times a passer passes to the lane.

4- Fouls Drawn

5- Fastbreak- measures of running a lane, pitch aheads

Would love your thoughts on assists or other stats you would use, or that you do use. Just put them in the comments below!!